What’s that you’re doing, Ms. Ehmke?

“I’m making a hexagon bolt. For that I have to program a computer-aided lathe milling machine. Several connecting elements – bolts, sockets and screws of different sizes – are required for the maintenance of different aircraft types, so my coworkers and I have to perform precise repairs on a wide variety of components or produce them from scratch. First, we check the order papers: This time, they’re for a 13-millimeter landing gear bolt. So I equip the machine with the appropriate drills, cutters and turning tools. To make sure the machine knows exactly how much material to remove when, it still has to be programmed. When we make a part for the first time, the preparations can take several hours. The second time around, things go much faster, especially since the finished program can simply be downloaded from the database. Once the machine is running, the bolt is ready within 30 minutes.”